Evil Thing is a dark and psychological exploration of Disney's villain, Cruella de Vil. The story delves into her life, motivations, and the events that shaped her vanity and cruelty towards Dalmatians. In her early life, she had a strained relationship with her mother. This challenging upbringing with her mother led to Cruella's deep insecurities and craving for attention and love as an adult. The story takes a sharp turn after Cruella's father's death. Her yearning for her mother's approval becomes the central focus for Cruella. Throughout the story, the desire for her mother’s love was often overshadowed and interfered with her genuine connections to others. Evil Thing depicts how Cruella's desire to please her mother consistently led her to sabotage all her close relationships.

 

Evil Thing presents a case of someone with a disorganized attachment. Counselors-in-training (CIT) can draw correlations between Cruella's early interactions with her mother and later interactions with others. This book could be incorporated into the counseling education curriculum as a supplementary text. It can be utilized in the form of a case study or in a group course to explore John Bowlby’s attachment theory. Evil Thing’s use of the first-person narrative allows CITs to observe the phenomenon of faulty thought processing’s impact on decision-making. Counselors can use the book to examine and discuss the long-term effects of inconsistent caregiving with clients. Exploring this story can help clients examine how unresolved attachment issues affect various aspects of their lives.